Web 2

Web 2.0 Innovations

Ajax, the rich internet application technique has
prompted the development of web-sites that copy personal computer applications
like (M.S. Office package) word processing, the spreadsheet, and slide-show
presentation while some wiki sites replicate many features of PC authoring
applications. Some sites perform collaboration and project management functions.
Web 2.0 also innovated various browser based operating system that works like an
application platform not merely operating system as it copy the user experience
of desktop operating systems having similar features and function like a PC
environment. They have as their distinctive characteristic to run within any
modern browser.

Rich Internet applications
The new feature included in the Web 2.0 based application in which user does not
need to refresh the page, the whole page or a portion of page get refreshed
automatically like in some real time web page. E.g. Cricket websites, Share
Market etc. Some of the richinternet application techniques are Ajax, Adobe
Flash, Flex, Nexaweb, OpenLaszlo and Silverlight and many more.

Server-side software
Web 2.0 application server functions on existing web server architecture but
strongly depend on back-end software. The weaving of software varies only
nominally due to methods of publishing via using dynamic content management but
web services usually need highly vigorous database and workflow support. It has
analogues to traditional intranet functionality of an application server. Vendor
moves towards to date fall either under a universal server approach or under a
web-server plugin approach. (A universal server refers to a common server that
bundles most of the necessary functionality in a single server platform while
under a plugin refers to standard publishing tools enhanced with API interfaces
and other tools.)

Client-Side
Software
Web 2.0 provides several extra functions that a usercan use according to its own
ability and requirements. It can be accessed in various forms like an HTML page,
Javascript, Flash, Silverlight or Java. All these methods reduce the server
workload and increase the accessibility of the application.

XML and RSS
Web 2.0 supporters consider the syndication of site content as a Web 2.0 feature
includes because it standardized protocols that allows users to implement data
for other purpose like for using another website, a browser plugin or a separate
desktop application. XML based protocols like RSS, RDF and atom allow
syndication. As the popularity of these technologies increase by name of Web
feed because of its high usability the RSS icon replaced by more user-friendly
icons.

Specialized protocols

Social networking sites uses the specialized protocols
like FOAF (Friend of A Friend) and XFN (XHTML Friends Network), which enhance
the functionality of the site by allowing end users to interact directly without
centralized website.

REST (Representational State Transfer) provides a
way to access and manipulates data on a server using the HTTP verbs GET,
POST, PUT, and DELETE.

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) includes
POSTing XML messages and requests to a server to follow the quite complex
but pre-defined instructions.

Usually servers use proprietary APIs, even though
standard web-service APIs have also been used vastly. Web service communications
mostly involve some form of XML.

Besides above protocols, WSDL (Web Services Description Language) is also used
for web services. The composition of WSDL with UDDI is expected to promote the
use of Web services worldwide.Web 2.0 and Language Learning Technologies

Web 2.0 technologies are new and evolving techniques for learning language, but
new added features like video, file sharing, blogs, wikis, podcastingin
and many more included features in Web 1.0 have made Web 2.0 very popular among
the scholars, educators and students. The user of these technologies have
appreciated the social networking and wikis aspect quating it as a natural
helper for a constructivist learning methodology.